The present invention relates to the field of productivity software, and in particular, to a software package that allows a user to store a current screen display for recall at a later time, and that allows a user to add additional textual annotations to a current screen display and to store the annotated screen for recall at a later time.
Currently, people use computers for many types of applications. Business people, for example, often use computers to calculate spreadsheet data, to perform word-processing, and to view corporate data bases. As more daily work is transferred to computers, people spend more time each day using computer equipment.
Conventionally, a person has been required to posses computer skills in order to use computers. Little or no consideration is given to persons who are not computer trained.
In conventional systems, information is often presented to the user at a time when it is inconvenient to fully use its contents. For example, information often is received via an electronic mail system when a user is engaged in some other activity and can not devote all his time to a mail message. As a second example, a user may wish to review a report displayed on the computer screen during a staff meeting that is scheduled at a future time or the user may decide that the report should be reviewed again in a month once additional information has been incorporated into the report.
Conventional reminder software systems tend to be "stand-alone" packages that are not integrated into other types of computer applications. This is cumbersome. By way of example, if a computer user in the process of using a spreadsheet decides to store a reminder message using conventional reminder software, he usually must save his spreadsheet calculations, exit the spreadsheet software, invoke the reminder software, store his reminder, exit the reminder software, restart the spreadsheet software, re-access his spreadsheet calculations, and resume his spreadsheet activity. Often, the number of commands involved in such a seemingly simple act will dissuade the computer layperson from storing a reminder. Moreover, errors often are introduced when reminder information is retyped.
In addition, in current approaches to reminder software, the user must enter reminders using the keyboard himself, and must use computer commands that require training and frequent use to maintain familiarity. Persons who are not proficient typists or trained computer users are thus dissuaded from entering any but the most basic reminder messages, if they enter any at all.